3D Printer Recycler/Extruder

All,

I am part of a university project working on designing a recycler for waste plastic produced from 3D printing in order to create new filament. The device can also work as a standalone extruder using pellets.

I would appreciate you taking the time to complete this short 2 minute survey to help me gather information on this project: [docs.google.com]

Regards

There is at least one product already available through Filastruder as well as open source plans.

I believe RichRap has also tried starting a movement for a pellet based extruder and SeeMeCNC is using a wetvac powered pellet extruder on their BigDaddy delta printer.

Just thought I would mention some possible background for your research, though I did fill out the survey as well.

This is a big part of the ecosystem that I'm really excited to see develop. Good luck!

the theory is fine, but in reality, it isn't.

I've done filament runs with recycled prints. There is the very real problem of contaminates in the recycled material. Dust, hair, bits of tape, glue stick, flakes of hairspray, etc. These are enough to clog even a .5mm nozzle.

I have run my filament extruder with a screen mesh filter between the feed screw and the output nozzle. While this did reduce contaminates in the filament, the screen quickly clogs with contaminates even with a small run of recycled material. This screen filter is a nightmare to dig out of the extruder to replace.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2015 12:05PM by Dirty Steve.